Poem

Song for a Fifth Child
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

I stumbled across this poem this morning. I was reading and reading and then got to the last line and the tears turned on like a faucet.
For the past two afternoons, Camp has taken a nap on my chest. We go downstairs and lay on the couch and he falls asleep. Normally we're out running errands during that time and he'll sleep in the car.
I told Adam about it and he asked what I did while Camp slept. All I do is lay there and smell my sweet baby and kiss his sweet fuzzy head. It would be so easy to put him in his crib and use his naptime for cleaning or getting dinner ready. But I know the moments of him just falling asleep in my arms won't last for long. He's already changed so much in almost seven months. He changes everyday!

So here's to putting the cleaning and cooking on hold (for just a bit!) and taking the time to really enjoy our sweet little munchkins!